


Black Mirror and catharsis

by Metabird (wheatear)



Series: Approaches to storytelling [5]
Category: Black Mirror (TV)
Genre: Approaches to Storytelling, Bad Ending, Catharsis, Catharsis Ending, Compare and Contrast, Episode Analysis, Essays, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:36:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23244580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheatear/pseuds/Metabird
Summary: Nothing was resolved, nothing was gained and nothing was worth it. A meta essay on how Black Mirror denies the audience catharsis.
Series: Approaches to storytelling [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653421
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Black Mirror and catharsis

In this post I want to talk about _Black Mirror_ and what I see as one of the major differences between the earlier and later seasons, which is the approach to catharsis.  
  
Let's start by defining catharsis:  
  
_The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions._  
  
This was a theory developed by Aristotle when he was wondering why ancient Greek audiences liked tragedy so much. The idea is that by experiencing negative emotions such as sadness and fear through fiction, in this case the theatre, we are able to process them and purge them from our system. The idea of _release_ is important here, because I'm going to talk about endings. A story needs to have a resolution, not just a plot resolution, but an emotional resolution. The emotional tone of the ending, whether it's happy, sad, bittersweet etc, reflects back on the entire piece and colours our response to the story as a whole. We have experienced the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs of the story, with the protagonist and other characters, and at the end we feel a sense of release, or catharsis, as the story wraps up in what feels like an appropriate and satisfying manner. If the ending didn't satisfy us, we may be disappointed instead, but let's assume for now that we are talking about stories where the end resolution is done well.  
  
So what does that have to do with Black Mirror? The first thing to note is that every episode of Black Mirror is a standalone story, so it must have a resolution. In theory, that means every episode should allow us to experience catharsis.  
  
But it doesn't.  
  
Here's my take: in the early seasons of Black Mirror (i.e. when it aired on Channel 4), the show **deliberately and by design denies the audience catharsis.** This is a distinctive feature of Black Mirror that, more than the technology aspect or anything else, made it feel different from anything else on television.  
  
With catharsis, you are able to let go of the negative emotions that you experienced vicariously through the story. But Black Mirror leaves you wallowing in a pit of those negative emotions with nothing resolved, no satisfying resolution and no sense of hope or justice. The prevailing sentiment is emptiness or despair. It's quite extraordinary. I can't claim it's like this for everyone, obviously, but the way the stories are designed does explain why so many people respond to the show by saying they had to take time to process it or they felt bad for days afterward. In other words, Black Mirror doesn't allow you to fully process the emotions during the episode itself. You have to do that on your own, and how long that takes is going to depend on how much of an impact the events of the story had on you. It leaves you distinctly unsettled.  
  
How does it do it? I'll talk through three examples:  
  
**1) Fifteen Million Merits**  
We are presented with a world of meaningless consumerism where the inhabitants ride bikes to earn virtual money and pay for virtual entertainment. Our hero Bing rebels against the system when it takes his love interest Abbie and forces her into the porn industry, but after he makes his big speech railing against the system, instead of saving Abbie he is paid off to become part of it. We end the episode with the crushing realisation that he has sold out and nothing has changed.  
  
**2) The Entire History of You**  
Liam suspects that his wife has cheated on him. Using a grain that allows him to play back memories, he becomes increasingly suspicious and paranoid. Long story short: his wife did cheat on him, he loses both her and their baby, and we are left to watch as Liam finally cuts out the grain knowing that it's too late and his life is already ruined.  
  
**3) White Bear**  
Victoria wakes up in the middle of an apocalyptic scenario where most of the remaining population are either perpetual voyeurs recording her on their phones or scary people in masks trying to kill her. The big reveal is that the entire thing was staged and Victoria is in fact the star of a "justice park" where her torture becomes theatre. We are left to contemplate that the entire story was an elaborate and horrific punishment, the protagonist we sympathised with was a child-murderer, all the people we saw recording with their phones were visitors watching this as entertainment, and that this will go on and on with no conceivable end.  
  
I think the big theme here is that nothing has been resolved. Nothing was gained and nothing was worth it. In fact, what we learn at the end typically makes the whole scenario even more pointless and horrific. And then the episode ends.  
  
Contrast this with later seasons. From Season 3, Black Mirror changes things up. Some of the episodes do stick with the above formula, but others adopt a more traditional narrative resolution which does provide catharsis. Some examples to illustrate the difference:  
  
**1) Nosedive**  
This episode follows Lacie, a woman obsessed with her social network rating that determines everyone's lot in this world. She plans to attend a wedding of a 5-star best friend to improve her rating. Unfortunately through a series of mishaps her rating goes down to the point that she arrives at the wedding a total mess and is removed from the premises. Our catharsis comes in the prison cell at the end, where having experienced the stifling restrictions of having to conform and repress her thoughts and feelings all episode, Lacie finally lets go and is able to express herself freely. Her exchange of insults with a fellow prisoner is joyous and provides the release of all that pent-up emotion for both herself and the audience. (So much pent-up emotion! This episode is a poster child for that.)  
  
**2) USS Callister**  
Nanette wakes up as a digital clone of herself in a Star Trek-esque game created by her boss Robert Daly, who uses the game to torture digital copies of his colleagues in revenge for perceived slights against him in the real world. Nanette encourages the crew to revolt and, guess what, she wins! Daly the villain ends up dead, Nanette and the crew survive and the ending shows us a moment of triumph where having been trapped by Daly all episode, Nanette becomes captain of the ship and the crew are free to explore the virtual world of the game. This is a classic "fuck yeah" ending. It's great.  
  
**3) Black Museum**  
Nish visits the Black Museum where the proprietor Rolo Haynes tells her ghoulish stories of the items on display there. It turns out that the star attraction features a digital copy of her dad who is being electrocuted repeatedly for the visitors' amusement. Nish kills Rolo, creates a digital copy of him which she electrocutes too, and rides off into the sunset. The catharsis here is of course revenge. Rolo gets his comeuppance.  
  
In all these examples we experience a _shift_ in emotions, a change that allows us to resolve or let go of the negative feelings earlier in the episode e.g. the crew of the USS Callister go from being trapped and terrified to gaining their freedom. The ending feels satisfying rather than hollow. We also have sympathetic protagonists to root for, a notion Black Mirror does like to challenge. But this can work without a sympathetic protagonist too e.g. _Crocodile_ features a villain protagonist, but our catharsis comes in the form of her getting caught. Everything that happened in the episode was horrific, but justice prevails in the end.  
  
So, having said all that... is one better than the other? I don't think so. My main point is that there is a difference between earlier and later seasons, and it's not wrong to say that. I think I lean towards liking the denial of catharsis more because it is a truly unique feature of Black Mirror and it's something that I haven't found in any other media I've consumed. In that sense those episodes feel more quintessentially Black Mirror. But I also get why Season 3 changed that up. If we always knew that Black Mirror was going to give us despair, then the show would become stale and predictable. The show has expanded the definition of what Black Mirror can be, which gives it better longevity, and it means that you genuinely don't know which way any particular episode is going to go. It makes the "good" endings when they happen even more cathartic, because it's such a relief amidst the despair. And it's easier to binge, which I'm sure Netflix appreciates.


End file.
